Iwata Asks: Wii U GamePad prototype was two WiiMotes taped to a monitor

The latest edition of Iwata Asks – in which Nintendo president Satoru Iwata quizzes his internal development teams – focused on party game Nintendo Land and the GamePad’s conception, revealing a crude early prototype that consisted of a monitor, two WiiMote controllers and a shit-load of sticky tape. See it below.

Sexy no?

The Iwata Asks session saw Iwata being handed the above prototype before asking the team about it, and stating that it led to the development of Nintendo Land.

Katsuya Eguchi, general manager – software development department entertainment (Christ!) analysis & development division, said, “We used this prototype and two Wii consoles to run simulations for Wii U. EAD isn’t a hardware department, but a ‘handicraft team’ knowledgeable about hardware makes stuff like this.

“One of the staff members expressed a desire for a game that would gather Nintendo’s franchises into a single spot and each franchise would have something to do with the others. It was quite a grand concept. But we were like, ‘How do we bring them all together?’ We didn’t take it too seriously.

“But when we tried to figure it out in front of all the prototypes, we thought, ‘If we did that, it just might work,’ and very slowly, moved forward in that direction.”

So it just goes to show that simple things can often lead to bigger innovations in the industry. For example, did you know that Angry Birds was spawned form a game of conkers?